This invention relates to a cutting tool enabling a neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon to shape, shave or bore bone. The tool is useful, for example, in forming a precisely contoured depression in bone to receive a transcutaneous connector used in a nerve stimulation system. The connector typically has an undersurface of known curvature, and which is coated with tiny titanium beads which encourage bone ingrowth after implantation. To achieve such ingrowth, it is important that the bone surface in which the connector is seated be contoured to exactly match the connector contour so the facing surfaces are in intimate contact. The tool enables precise control of cutting depth, and is equally useful in the boring of precise holes in bone with control over both hole diameter and depth.
Controlled-depth cutters have been in use in industry for many years for forming countersink surfaces and the like, but these products are intended for use against a flat metal surface, and are typically adjusted by trial and error after making several experimental cuts. The tool of this invention has three extended and pointed-tip legs which enable stable three-point positioning against a curved bone surface, and which provide visibility for the surgeon of the surface being cut. The tool can also be preset to a predetermined cutting depth with a click-stop adjustment which is easily manipulated in a surgical environment.